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In Reply to: Re: Can't believe it (more) posted by Al Carr on June 23, 2000 at 09:09:53:
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: Steve -- I've had the "Transmission Mode Failure" light come on three times on my '93 ci (80.000 miles). Once, about 2 1/2 years ago shortly after the 60,000 mile service which included repplacing the fluid and filter. I'd driven about 200 miles on the Interstate. Called BMW asssistance. Limped home, and after shutting off the engine it reset itself. The second time it happened, the air control on one cylinder bank was stuck shut and that triggered it. Again, everything, including the air valve or flap or whatever, reset itself after I shut off the engine and restarted it. After each occurence I drove the car for some time, and the dealer later -- I'm about 250 miles away from the dealer I use -- checked the Codes and found no problem. The third time the fuel pump went bad and shut down one cylinder bank. Replacing the fuel pump cured all. I guess what I'm doing is confirming some of the other posts that said that if the tx warning comes on, it can be any number of things other than the transmission and does not mean that there's a transmission problem. But I have to say it's scary, at least the first time it happens.
: Hope you can locate and solve the problem. I'd be interested in hearing what caused the problem, and if any fix is required what it is and the cost.
: I keep hearing scuttlebutt about weaknesses in the earlier 850 autos -- the 4-speeds -- but I'm not sure of the validity. Mine seems ok, but at almost 7 years and 80k miles, things are getting on up there. Any htoughts?
: Thanks
: Al Carr
Al, thanks for the input. I will post as soon as I have the fault readout information from the stealer next week.
As for auto transmission problems, I think the subject is still a bit of a black art here in the UK where manual boxes dominate car sales. I have no experience myself having driven manual cars right up until the purchase of the E31 and E34 I have now.